Will Kate and Anthony return for Season 5?

With Season 5 over halfway through filming there still has not been an official cast list released by Netflix, though Shondaland and Netflix have announced three new cast members. Some other cast members, such as Hugh Sachs, Emma Naomi, Ruth Gemmell and Claudia Jessie have been sighted at filming locations in London by fans, and Nicola Coughlan has been able to officially confirm her return. Despite these sightings, and the confirmation from Nicola of her return, there has been no such indication that the Viscount and Viscountess will be returning for the fifth season. Prior to season 4 there was a similar silence around just the return of Simone Ashley (Kate Bridgerton) and it took Simone herself having to confirm she would return in an interview, but for season 5 there has not only been silence from Netflix and Shondaland, but also less definitive responses from Simone Ashley when asked. Jonathan Bailey has not spoken on any potential return this year either.  

Image Credit: Netflix

Both Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey have continually reiterated their commitment to Bridgerton, and the characters of Kate and Anthony Bridgerton, when asked however, neither have stated if they are returning for season 5 as yet. The speculation of Kate and Anthony’s return began among a small group of Bridgerton fans in April after Simone Ashley appeared on The Louis Theroux Podcast where Simone indicated that she had (at the time of recording) not received a script for season 5, despite filming already being underway. The speculation has intensified after a recent interview with Refinery29 Australia where Simone was again non-committal about her potential return for season 5, saying that “Bridgerton will always feel like home…” and that she is “grateful for everything it’s given me, and for the audience who’ve embraced Kate so wholeheartedly.” Simone went on to say that she loves seeing where the story goes each season. For many fans this sounded final, and as a confirmation she will not be returning to the show, and with no indication that she has been on set for season 5 her departure from the show, however unwillingly, appears highly likely. Some in the fandom have suggested that Simone may not be allowed to say if she is returning, which seems odd when Nicola has openly stated she is returning, as have the season 4 leads Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha.

If Kate and Anthony are not returning then Bridgerton will again be under the spotlight for their optics, especially if they keep Violet and the unmarried children living in Bridgerton House.  These optics were touched on in my post last week which you can read here, however, to reiterate the message, it is not a good look for the production to continue having Violet - a white woman - running Kate’s household. But adding to those optics is the way that the show has treated the introduction, and integration, of Eliott versus Edmund. Elliott was first seen at the end of season 3, then again in season 4, and it is speculated that Elliott will be joined by a sibling in season 5, however, we have only seen Edmund in season 4, and if Kate and Anthony are not in season 5 then we will not be seeing him again, nor any of his siblings. This is part of a pattern the production have shown with regards to the only South Asian lead, and now a mixed South Asian child, and for a production that craves continual praise for its diverse casting to write out the darker skinned Viscountess and her mixed South Asian child, but continue to keep her white in-laws in her home the optics look worse than ever as the pattern emerges.  

Image Credit: Netflix

So will Kate and Anthony be back? It is unclear, and cannot be said one way or another with any degree of confidence, but all signs are suggesting that at the very least Kate will not be returning, there is still the possibility that Anthony may do so without his wife and child. However, perhaps we should not be focussed on if Kate and Anthony will return, but how will the production continue to have Bridgerton House at its centre without the Viscount and Viscountess?

Netflix did not respond to a request for comment on whether Kate and Anthony would be returning.   

Throwback Thursday: Netflix Erasure of Kate Bridgerton with "Just Anthony" highlighted

This post was originally posted on 7 September 2025

Netflix have not responded to any requests for comment on this post.  

On 29 August this article was published on the Netflix Tudum site celebrating Jonathan Bailey's best moments as Anthony Bridgerton, including three moments from season 2 that included his onscreen love interest played by Simone Ashley.  The fact that these three moments were included, yet in the introductory paragraph Simone Ashley, and her character Kate Bridgerton (formerly Sharma) was not mentioned. Of itself it is not egregious considering that the article was about Jonathan Bailey, but the author included mention of Simon and Daphne, and Penelope and Colin, so that when it came to season 2 the author referred to "just Anthony Bridgerton" the exclusion of Kate (and Simone Ashley) was obvious, and seemed very deliberate.  The author clearly framed the season 1 and season 3 leads as equal in their stories, but for the season 2 protagonists the author dismissed Kate's importance to Anthony's story and love story.  That she eventually included Kate in a later paragraph does not redeem the author, but rather reinforces that the author - and by extension Netflix - does not value Kate's (and Simone's) contribution to the story of season 2, with Kate being mentioned almost as an afterthought.  

Screenshot of Netflix Tudum Article

If this was a one off situation then it probably would not have garnered quite the same notice in the fandom, but the exclusion of Kate as a character, and Simone Ashley as an actress, is an ongoing issue with both Netflix and Shondaland, leading many to believe that both Netflix and Shondaland have (at best) a problem with Kate (or Simone), or (at worst) have an active dislike of - or contempt for - Kate as a character (or Simone as an actress). Neither perception is good for Netflix or Shondaland. To continually exclude Kate from articles on Bridgerton, especially when directly connected to Anthony, and to continually exclude Simone Ashley from promotional materials, makes their claims of diversity and representation ring hollow, she is after all the Viscountess Bridgerton and was the season 2 lead. The continual exclusion of Simone Ashley (and Kate) from promotional content reinforces the perception that neither Netflix nor Shondaland prioritise representation of women of colour, or specifically the representation of South Asian women of colour. But worse, the continual exclusion of her by Netflix and Shondaland leads to other media outlets excluding her - or at least diminishing her importance in the show when compared to white counterparts. 

Image Credit: Netflix

One example is this article by gossip site Just Jared, where they are discussing the returning and new cast for Bridgerton season 4. In this we see that of the main cast members returning Kate is the only one that does not have a character description from Netflix, suggesting that Netflix does not care enough about Kate to include a character description for her. It should also be noted that there is no surname for the character of Kate provided, whilst the other returning leads (who are all white), have surnames listed for their characters. What does this say about how Netflix views the first women of colour lead in Bridgerton? Once is a mistake, twice is a pattern and three times is a choice, and to exclude, or diminish, the only dark skinned South Asian lead in Bridgerton is a choice that Netflix make over and over again. In doing this Netflix, and Shondaland, continually alienate and anger fans, most women of colour and many of South Asian heritage, they are telling these fans that they are not important, and that for them the South Asian representation is not important, further it tells everyone that Netflix prioritises white characters, and white stories over that of South Asians, meanwhile they will still use their South Asian Viscountess in promotion to entice those fans. Netflix's actions suggest that for them representation is superficial and meaningless. 

Image Credit: Netflix

The appeal of Bridgerton is the love stories, but you cannot have a love story with only one partner, so to omit one of the two partners in a love story diminishes the growth of both partners in the story. In the opening paragraph of the Tudum article, the author not only erased Kate as being important to the season 2 love story, but diminshed Anthony's arc by lessening the contribution of his screen partner, something she did not do for other lead couples. The fact that Kate is played by a dark skinned South Asian woman indicates a wider issue where women of colour - particularly dark skinned women of colour - are treated as incidental in the storytelling rather than essential to it, something that we see over and over when it comes to Kate Bridgerton. 

Image Credit: Netflix

The author's wording may have been intended as a clever way to show that Jonathan Bailey's performance as Anthony was the focus of the article, it did not come across that way to many reading the article. By referencing the season 1 and season 3 couple as a pair, each equal in their stories, the "just Anthony" line worked more to suggest that Simone Ashley's portrayal of Kate was unimportant in Anthony's story. We cannot talk about Jonathan Bailey's portrayal of Anthony without discussing Simone Ashley's portrayal of Kate, but this is what Netflix did, and has done, while using Kate (and Simone Ashley) to promote to the demographic that she represents, which diminshes the claims of diversity and representation in Bridgerton by Netflix and Shondaland. 

As a result of the backlash of this article Netflix Tudum updated their article, however, instead of updating the article with the inclusion of Kate Bridgerton (Simone Ashley) in the first paragraph they have merely removed the writer's name and given the byline to 'Tudum Staff'.  While I understand that this was potentially done to protect the writer from harassment, (I understand some fans have posted her linkedIn details and have said they contacted her through that), I believe that this has made Netflix look worse. I am not saying the writer deserves harassment because she does not, however, by removing her name and replacing it with a generic 'Tudum Staff' Netflix have made it appear that Netflix are protecting a white (or lighter skinned) woman whilst still diminishing and erasing a darker skinned woman of colour. 

I am not saying Netflix were wrong in trying to protect a freelance writer that does work for them, but if they listened enough to understand fans were angry with the writer why not fix their glaring omission in the first paragraph? As it stands Netflix have still tried to erase, and diminish, a woman of colour in an article where White women are given equal standing to their screen partners.  Netflix need to do better. 

Note: I requested comment on this article from both the author of the article and Netflix, neither have responded.